Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Welcome to the home of my new blog, PRINCESS MAGPIE'S NEST & STUDIO. This is a continuation of I AM PRINCESS MAGPIE, which is my "creative adventure / journey" blog.

As I began hatching {pun intended!} this business idea, for a mixed media SHOP {on Etsy - called PrincessMagpiesNest} and STUDIO for classes, I began by searching high and low for ... any name conflict/s that might prevent me from continuing down my I AM PRINCESS MAGPIE path. I didn't find any. I wanted to take what began as my "creative adventures blog" and grow it into something more.I already have "my creative blog", http://iamprincessmagpie.blogspot.com/, which I love dearly. Because "I Am Princess Magpie" has become my signature, if you will, I opted to expand on the name I already identify with and go with ... PRINCESS MAGPIE'S NEST & STUDIO.

{this is where I store my scrapbooking materials, just off our master bedroom}After a very full year of taking mixed media classes, retreats, and workshops {2009} -- after acquiring quite a stash of mixed media art supplies, books, and magazines, worthy of any magpie! -- and after encouragement from several friends and mixed media artists, it finally all clicked {or clucked, if you're a chicken, or chirped, if you're a bird!}.

During AN ARTFUL JOURNEY ( http://www.anartfuljourney.com/ ), I was so inspired & so excited; I was on such an "art high" when we got back home, the ideas began to percolate. I owe a debt of gratitude to Cindy O'Leary, "mother" and organizer of this amazing Retreat experience, and to the instructors that led me {and 20 other fortunate women} through a FUNKY CHUNKY COFFEE TABLE BOOK experience - Kelly Rae Roberts and Mati Rose McDonough, and to all the other Retreat instructors, who made what they taught in their workshops "open" to us all to explore after-hours. What a magical adventure!Once I got home, it was just a matter of days before I was ensconced in three straight classes from Chris Cozen {a working artist for Golden acrylic products} out at Stamping Details. ( www.stampingdetails.com )After waking up at 4:00 am four straight days, just exploding with ideas, it was time to focus on what was right in front of me: Opportunity. And Possibility. And Freedom. The opportunity to create; the possibility of selling some of my art and photography; and the freedom to do what I love.As I now see it, I have an opportunity to CREATE for and fill up my own Etsy shop; the opportunity to pursue mixed media art as more than "just a hobby"; and the opportunity to be the Artist I feel I have yearned to be.Most of you know that I took a "change of career" path when I was in my thirties ... I studied hard, I did internships, and I became a residential Interior Designer. It is a career that I was (and am) passionate about. Many of you also know that the side of interior design that most appealed to me was ... the colors, the selection of fabrics and materials, the DESIGN part of the business. Some designers are very good at the business side (and I was, too, when I worked for other designers in the beginning). Some designers do not much care for fabrics, paint color selection, carpet, etc ... preferring instead to work in increments of measure as a kitchen or bath designer. And me? I was all about the COLOR and the TEXTURE and the BLENDING of elements, patterns, ideas in a space.

It's a lot like MIXED MEDIA, then, isn't it? When you come right down to why I was drawn to interior design, it's the very same reasons I am now drawn to mixed media art.

I hope you will follow me on my blogs (writing is, you know, another passion of mine). I do promise to try and condense my posts to more manageable-in-one-sitting readings. Really, I do.

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About Me

I am a semi-retired (but still loves design work!) residential interior designer that loves to travel, to explore new places and discover new things. I have also discovered the wild and wonderful colorful world of mixed media art! I have a husband, three daughters, one son-in-law, three "grands" and one Rat Terrier, all of whom I love very much. My adventures in Mixed Media Art have been life-changing and mood-altering, and led me to my second blog, I Am Princess Magpie. Life these days is very, very good.